I read an op-ed that I unfortunately cannot find now that discussed Obama's plan to make community college free for students with a certain grade-point average. Most students who enter community college do not graduate for a plethora of reasons, many of which are not financial: a death in the family, parents themselves aren't college grads, not being able to balance a job and schoolwork. But one reason got to me: Many of these students were not accustomed to being away from home, and would basically party until they fell behind on their grades.

This is a problem not only belonging to community colleges. My professor told me after the fall of the Soviet Union, the university received an influx of students from the Eastern Bloc, and the majority of them did not do well because they were not used to our system. According to them, there was too much self-reliance and self-discipline involved instead of having the state dictate your path and punish you if you don't follow it. It's like that for many students across the spectrum who leave the structured lifestyle created by their parents, but unlike community colleges most of them have the financial backing to retake a semester or even a year if something goes wrong. The op-ed I read said many comunity colleges have support groups for students who fall into this trap, but there still needs to be the initiative from the student to attend it. The author said this wasn't enough and perhaps there needed to be further measures implemented.

Really what we're asking whether it's fair to treat teenagers as children their whole lives and then suddenly expect them to be responsible adults the moment they hit eighteen. Maybe, maybe not. Children attending school far away from home and partying isn't a new thing; we have letters from the Middle Ages from sons asking their fathers for more money, probably due to spending it on alcohol, women, etc. I think at some point you have to to just deal with shit yourself, and if not in the college years then when? And at what point do you force the kid to learn how to deal with this? If you continue to baby them, will they be ready for the workforce later that would not put up with this bullshit?

Part of the problem is many students should not be in college. They just do not have the mindset for it, but they really don't have much choice. Yeah, there are plenty of high-paying jobs that don't require a degree, but they're starting to fade. And I suspect it's going to continue like that as automation will take over the more menial jobs until all there's left are ones that require a human brain, like engineering, art, chemistry, engineering, politics, etc. So people who hated school will find themselves in it for a longer period of time instead of entering the workforce at a younger age like in our grandparents' day, and not be able to commit themselves such as someone like me, who actually enjoys studying.

I think having support groups and introductory seminars are the best compromise at the moment. After all, even when you grow up it's still on you to attend such things, whether it's for weight loss or alcoholism. If you don't have that sort of internal impetus at that point, you may never have it.